AUTOMATIC CARS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21707, 14 February 1936, Page 19

AUTOMATIC CARS

NEW TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS

TREND; TOWARDS EASIER

DRIVING

While public attention has been focused on the externals of motorear design in the form of new body iffies, all unperceived the chassis designer has been slowly tout surely approaching the ideal of the automatic car, and at the recent London Olympia, there was at least one model in which the driver can 'sit back and steer. i The motor-car has for long, of cdUrse, embodied various automatic features; these include Ackermann steering, which automatically gives the correct inclination for each front wheel for steering round any curve; the differential. which provides the drive wnil-3 allowing the rear wheels to rotate at different speeds when cornering; pump lubrication,,of the engine (at one time drip'feeds had to be adjusted toy hand):; automate curburetion, and the electrical cut- out which prevents the battery discharging through the dynamo. Move recently the ignition advance and retard has been subjected to automatic control, the cooling system has similarly benefited by the introduction of the thermostat to maintain a constant temperature in the system. - -Automatic return, direction indicators have also been generally adopted, an<f now the dynamo charge is, automatic cally adjusted by compensated voltage control to meet the fluctuating requirements of the battery. In all these directions the driver has been relieved of various operating responsibilities by the ingenuity of the designer, but undoubtedly the biggest step of all toward simplified motoring is the development of automatic gear changing systems in which gear selection is automatically effected in exact accordance with exigencies of any particular occasion, while, if desired, the driver may modify the ratios by fingertip control, Every modem car possesses Sf noiseless and fool-proof transmission system —seif-changing gear-boxes, synchromesh cones together with free-wheels and automatic types of clutch have made this possible. The modern driver can concentrate solely on the road without the worry or distraction once brought about by the risk of clashing gears or the necessity of pumping ou and petrol to the ’engine.